Vehicle signal



H. A. WHITMAN.

VEHICLE SIGNAL. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, 1920.

1A23QQ85. 1 Patented July 18, 1922.

2 SHE ETISSHEET 1.

H. A. WHITMAN.

VEHICLE SIGNAL.

,APPLICATION- FILED APR. 1, 1920. v 1,423fi85. Patented July '18, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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HEY A. WHITMAN, OF BING-HA'MTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SELINA J. WHIT-MAN, 0F BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

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Application filed April 1,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY A. VVHITMAN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Binghamton, in the county ofBroome and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Vehicle- Signals, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention has to do with vehicle signals, the object ofwhich is to indicate the contemplated movements or direction of travelof a vehicle to approaching or following traflic.

In the carrying out of my invention I preferably provide duplicatingsignalling means, one at the front and one at the rear of the vehicle,operated, however, by means common to both.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements ofparts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novelfeatures thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the vehicle having my invention appliedthereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the signal portion of myapparatus, thesection being taken on the plane indicated by the line 22of Fig. 3;

Figure 3 is a sectional view at right angles to the section of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the signalling part;

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are horizontal sectional views on the lines 5-5, 6-6and 7-7, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Figures 8 and 9 are sectional views taken at right angles to each otherof the manual operating part for the signal; and

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail view of the alarm device preferablyassociated with the signal to attract attention thereto{ Throughout thefollowing detail descriptionand on the several figures of the drawings,similar parts are referred to by like reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, and first taking up in detail the signalportion of the apparatus, 1 indicates a casing which, as shown mostclearly in Figure 4, may comprlse separable parts whereby to enable theas Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July is, 1922.

1920. Serial No. 370,443.

sembling of the mechanism within the same,

invention I prefer to provide a duplicate thereof mounted at the rear ofthe vehicle as indicated at 1', but since these signalling parts areidentical it is-necessary to only describe one of. the same. The rearsignal, it might be added, is placed in position for illumination by thetail lamp 5 as found'desirable.

A plurality of arms, usually termed semaphore arms, three of which arepreferably employed in carrying out the present invention, designated 6,7 and 8, respectively, are mounted upon the common axis consisting of abolt 9 having nuts upon its extremity so as to hold the sections of thecasing together. Each of these arms embodies some indicating means,which in the present embodiment maybe the word Stop on one, an index onthe second pointing in one direction and a corresponding index upon thethird pointing in the opposite direction, these intelligenciesindicating to the traflic when in operative position whether the vehicleis about to stop or to turn to the right or left. The inner end of eacharm is cut away to form a stop shoulder '10, which, when the arm isswung into its outward position from the casing, will abut against thestop 11 consisting of a bolt which is employed similarly to the axis 9as a means for holding the casing sections together. A spring 12 wrappedaround the axls 9 between each of the arms and having one end engagingwith the shoulder 10 and its opposite end engaging with the stop 11 isdesigned to be placed under tension as the arm moves into its outwardposition so that when the signal is retracted or dropped sald springswill positively actuate the signal arms to overcome the drag of theactuatlng connecting members hereinafter referred to.

A spring buffer 13 is attached within the casing to receive the impactof the arms when they drop into their inoperative or normal position 'asshown more clearly in Fig. 2. Attached to each of the signal arms at oneside of its pivot is a bar 14 to the end of which is connected anactuating cable 15, the three cables being preferably encased andextending to the actuating means arranged adjacent to the driver of thevehicle so as to be convenient for operation as re uired.

assing now to the actuating mechanism just referred to and referringparticularly to Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings, the cables 15 pass into acasing 16 attached to the side of the vehicle in any desired manner atthe position above mentioned. Each cable 15 has interposed in its lengtha spring 17 and is connected to one end of a pivoted lever 18 mountedupon the pivot means 19. A depressible bar 20 is attached to theopposite end of the lever 18, it being understood that there is one suchbar 20 for each of the levers 18 or in other words for actuating eachone of the signal arms. At one edge the depressible bar, which as shownin Fig. 8 extends through the top of the casing is notched as at 21, themovements of the bars being guided by the guide means 22. To the top ofthe casing 16 and within the same is slidably secured a latch member 23for each of these bars 20, said latch members being slotted as at 24 topermit oftheir sliding movement and also further slotted as at 25 so asto accommodate the depressible bars 20. The latch members 23 alsoproject from the casing 16 so as to enable their actuation and arespring actuated by the springs 26 engaging with their inner extremitiesto normally hold them in cooperative relation with respect to thedepressible bars 20.

The duplicating signal 1 at the rear of the vehicle is operated by thissame actuated mechanism and for this purpose each of the signalling armsof the rear signal is connected to the corresponding actuating elementby cables .15 so that when one of the bars 20 is depressed, its lever 18is rocked to thereby exert pull upon the connecting cables 15 and 15which will shift the proper signal arms into the horizontal signallingposition. as shown more clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The signalarm there depicted in this operative position indicates that the vehicleis to be brought to a stop and the arm is held in its posit-ion by thelatch member 23 which automatically engages with the notched edge 21 ofthe depressed bar 20 so that the arm is held without attention on thepart of the driver of the vehicle in this position until it no longer isdesired for signalling purposes. At such time the driver at hisconvenience pushes inwardly upon the latch member oi the particularsignalling arm thereby releasing the depressed bar 20 which permits thesignal to drop under the actuation of its spring, in combination alsowith the slack taking up springs 17 for retraction into the casings ofthe respective signalling devices. It will be apparent that when aboutto turn to the right the driver will depress the intermediate bar 20 soas to bring the proper index carrying arm into its operative position,and so on.

While it is not essential for the operation of the signalling device asabove described, it may be desirable at times to have some means forattracting attention to the signal displayed or about to be displayed,and for this purpose I have devised an alarm device which isautomatically operated as an incident to the shifting of the signal armsinto their signalling position. It will be obvious that said alarmdevice, so-called for the want of a better term, may consist of avisible or an illuminating element or an audible signal element, thelatter being depicted in the drawings. A horn 27 suitably located uponthe vehicle and provided with the proper source of electric current 28and circuits 29 leadin to the signal casing so as to connect wit thecircuit closing element 30 are disclosed in Fig. 2. The circuit closingmeans embodies a spring member 31 which maintains an open circuit untilpressed into contact with its co-operating element 32 to close thecircuit and sound the horn. Arran ed adjacent to the member 31 is anangle %ever 33 mounted upon the axis 34 and carrying a one-way actingpawl 35. This pawl has secured thereto a transversely arranged bar 36which is of a sufiicient length to co-act with the three actuating bars14 for the signalling arms. Each of these bars 14 is provided with alateral extension 37 so that when any one of them is operated by themeans hereinbefore described the shoulder 37' of the extension willengage with the bar 36 shifting the lever 33 into contact with thecircuit closing element 31, thus sounding the signal. As the bar 36escapes off the extension 37 the circuit is again opened, this beingclearly shown in Fig. 10 and when the operated bar 14 again assumes itsoriginal position as the signal arm is dropped the one way acting paw 35permits said extension 37 of the particular bar to pass the bar 36without actuation of the signal closing lever.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a vehicle signal of the class described, the combination of acasing or housing made in sections, bolts extendingl transverselythrough said housing for olding said sections together, a plurality ofsignal arms mounted upon one of said bolts as a masses common axis formovement into signalling position, a stop shoulder on each of said armsarranged to engage with another of said bolts to limit into signallingmounted upon acting with said stop shoulders and said second mentionedbolt to yieldingly oppose the movement of said arms into signallingposition, and means connected to each of said arms for shifting thesameinto operative position.

In a vehicle signal of the class describe the combination of a casing orhousing, a plurality of signal arms mounted spring means axis andcotherein for movement therefrom into si nalling position, an axiscommon to sald arms, a stop shoulder on each of said arms, a stop memberwith which the shoulders are adapted to impinge to limit movement of thearms, spring means mounted upon the common axis and co-actin with theshoulders and stop member to p ace the arms under tension when broughtinto signalling position, and co-acting means connected to each of saidarms for shifting the same into operative position.

In testimony whereof I my signature.- HRY A. HITMAN.

